Where to sleep after lower back surgery

I had lower back surgery last week on my L5 S1. I have been sleeping in a recliner and am wondering if it is advisable to start sleeping in my bed. If so, on my back or my side with a body pillow between my knees.

Everyone's different, but I was much more comfortable in my own bed. Like Paula said, I always had either two pillows under my knees or one pillow between my knees. I carefully turned to each side and to my back throughout the night, which helped me a lot to not get too stiff.

I am currently in a hospital bed, going on 4 weeks post op. I've been told to start experimenting with moving back towards my own bed. We're going to try nighttimes in my own bed and daytime in the hospital bed. I think if I had a recliner I could probably just get rid of the hospital bed altogether, but alas, I do not.

It's pretty much universally accepted that sleeping on your stomach after lumbar surgery is a no no. Sigh, as much as I'd like to because I'm a stomach sleeper. Sleeping on your back, if you can get your knees raised, isn't that uncomfortable.

I'm currently looking into buying a recliner and wincing a bit at the prices.

Hi Leslie,
I'm 8 &1/2 weeks post-op from my back surgery. My husband and I shopped for and bought a new bed (specifically for back and neck support, although our old one did need replacement anyway) after my neck surgery and prior to my back surgery; it came just days before the back surgery. However, I couldn't get into it on my own the day I came home from surgery, not without pain anyway, and I had a lot of trouble lying on it without rolling out of position. I tried both of our recliners to see if they would work, as they had done for me after my neck surgery. Neither worked and our sofa was way too low to the ground for me to get to without pain. We ended up renting a hospital bed for me later that first day home. That was the best thing we could have done and I'm still using it. The rental co. required a minimum 2-month rental, but we thought we'd just pay the minimum and return it after a month, give or take a week or so, depending on how I felt. Well, the hospital bed trumps every other choice I have for comfort even now, so we're extending our rental another month. I have a lot of trouble sitting and the hospital bed reclined is much more supportive and comfortable for me during the day (than the recliners) when I need to sit and rest with my legs up. I plan to be back in our bed within the week, but keep using the hospital bed during the day when I want to sit fully supported. If the bed isn't as comfortable to me, I'll just keep sleeping in the living room a little longer. The hospital bed just feels so much better to me. Also, I bought two inexpensive mattress toppers for it, an egg crate style and a foamcore ($10 each) and use one atop the other. My husband has been sleeping on the couch to be near me. Oh, and we intend to buy a new couch by the time we return the bed, possibly a new recliner as well, but I highly doubt we can work both into our budget at the same time. Our sofa is too low and unsupportive and my husband has sort of flattened it out some. I've realized that I need really good furniture (for my back) in the house --and deserve it, too. Forget diamonds, back supportive furniture is a DDD girls best friend!
Meghan